The FCA has instigated fraud proceedings against three people - Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson and Karla Walker - for their alleged involvement in an £8m high-risk trading scheme targeting pension savers. 

The trio have been charged with multiple offences, including fraud by false representation and fraudulent trading, after they targeted victims by persuading them to invest in contracts for difference (CFDs). 

Many victims of the alleged fraud were encouraged to use their pensions to invest which were then traded to generate large commissions for those running the scheme, with victims’ pension funds almost entirely lost. 

The FCA alleges that Mr McGuire, Mr Williamson and Ms Walker made false statements to a trading platform that their clients were professional investors. 

Mr Williamson and Mr McGuire are accused of fraudulent trading and Mr McGuire faces five further counts of fraud by false representation.

The total known loss to victims is over £8m.

CFDs are a high-risk investment product used to bet on the price of an asset.

The defendants will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 June.

The FCA alleges that between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2017 Kristofer McGuire, Keith Williamson and Karla Walker made untrue and misleading representations to a CFD trading platform that clients met the qualifying criteria for professional investors when, in reality, they did not.

The regulator also alleges that between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2016, Keith Williamson and Kristofer McGuire engaged in fraudulent trading using detrimental trading strategies when trading CFDs to generate excessive commissions at the expense of investors. 

According to the FCA, between 1 April 2016 and 28 February 2023, Kristofer McGuire made further untrue and misleading representations to five individual investors to persuade them to invest their money through him and/or his firm K&K Consult LTD.

Fraud by false representation is an offence under section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 and is punishable on indictment by a fine and up to 10 years' imprisonment.

Fraudulent trading is an offence under Section 993(1) of the Companies Act 2006 and is punishable on indictment by a fine and up to 10 years' imprisonment. 

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